Jimmy John's is one of the upstart sandwich shops that's putting a hurt on longtime staples
like Subway, but there's always more going on behind the scenes than most customers know.
So, what is it that you don't know about this freaky fast chain?
As devotees probably know, Jimmy John is a real person.
Jimmy John Liautaud got started on the idea of owning his own business at an age when
most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to do with life he laid the groundwork
for his restaurant chain when he was only 19, and he had one person to thank for it
all: his father.
Liautaud's father gave him something of an ultimatum: enlist in the US Army, or start
a business.
While he would have preferred to see his son take the military route, he still agreed to
give him $25,000 to start a business in exchange for a 48 percent ownership in whatever opened.
Originally, that was supposed to be a hot dog stand.
It didn't take long for Liautaud to find out he didn't have the cash for hot dogs, and
he opened the low-overhead, cold sandwich shop in 1983.
He made a profit in year one, bought out his father in year two, and never looked back.
In 2016, Jimmy John's got into some serious trouble over a pretty insane non-compete clause
they forced their workers to sign.
According to Reuters, all employees were forced to sign a waiver as part of their hiring package,
agreeing to not work for any other sandwich shop or deli within 3 miles of a Jimmy John's
location.
Not only was this clause in effect while they worked at Jimmy John's, but for two years
following the end of their JJ's employment.
Not surprisingly, Jimmy John's found itself in court over the agreement that multiple
states including Illinois and New York said served only to lock employees into low-wage
jobs and restrict their ability to go elsewhere.
Ultimately, Jimmy John's promised to drop the clause from their hiring paperwork, not
enforce any that had been previously signed, and give $100,000 to the development of a
program designed to inform people about the truth of non-compete agreements.
In March of 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally announced the
food poisoning outbreak that had started in December 2017 was at an end.
There were 10 confirmed cases across Wisconsin and Illinois, and eight were linked to sprouts
from Jimmy John's.
The chain finally removed the offending item from their menu, and while any outbreak is
terrible, this one is only half the story.
That wasn't the first time Jimmy John's customers have gotten sick from eating sprouts on their
sandwiches.
In May of 2014, 19 people came down with a strain of E. coli, with some reporting they'd
eaten Jimmy John's sprouts before getting sick.
It was E. coli again in 2012, when 85 percent of the cases were linked to the chain's sprouts.
Two 2010 salmonella outbreaks and another in 2009 were, again, linked to Jimmy John's
sprouts, and in 2008, University of Colorado students got sick with E. coli traced back
to Jimmy John's, sprouts and employees who continued to work while sick.
And just in case you're wondering, sprouts are back at some Jimmy John's locations, but
they're only available on request.
"Chris, I’m dying."
“I was dying earlier today… and then I died."
Politics and business rarely mix well, and in 2010 a group of protestors staked out an
Arizona Jimmy John's to draw attention to founder Jimmy John Liautaud's support for
the controversial Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Yes, that's the guy who dresses inmates in pink and has been at the center of lawsuits
involving accusatins of racial profiling, criminal negligence, and abuse of suspects.
Even the owner of the franchise targeted by the protest hurried to distance himself from
Liautaud's politics.
The backlash came on the heels of a court case over whether or not the names of major
Republican Party donors should be kept secret, and according to the Phoenix New Times, it
was only after court ordered transparency that Jimmy John Liautaud's name cropped up
as one of the biggest donors to Arpaio's so-called "Sheriff's Command Association."
Do some digging into exactly what that is, and you'll find that no one's really sure.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes it as, quote, "a shadowy entity," while another
person involved described them as, quote, "Just a bunch of individuals who are concerned
about what's going on in Maricopa County."
It's no wonder franchisees tried to distance themselves.
In 2010, Jimmy John's employees in Minneapolis voted on whether or not to unionize with the
Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW.
Those that voted in favor of unionizing had some pretty awful things to say about their
employer.
One worker told Minnesota Public Radio,
"I'm voting 'yes' because conditions at Jimmy John's are pretty terrible right now."
They went on to cite things like a lack of sick days, needing to find their own replacements
if they do get sick, years spent making no more than minimum wage, and no health insurance
as some of the biggest problems.
According to the Huffington Post, the six leaders of the unionization movement were
fired for going public with the fight and the conditions.
They filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, and the law absolutely weighed
in on their side.
Unfortunately, thanks to all the legal red tape, the case dragged on for years before
the employees were anywhere near being reinstated.
It took so long it was something of a hollow victory, as many of the ex-employees had relocated
or moved on in their careers.
But it was a victory nonetheless.
"I love my job.”
“You hate your job.”
“I love my job.”
“You’re miserable."
"I love my job.
I love my job, honey"
Jimmy John's "freaky fast delivery" service was at the heart of two terrible accidents.
In 2011, motorcyclist Ty Cirillo was hit by a Jimmy John's driver on his way to a delivery.
Then 19 years old, CBS Las Vegas reported Cirillo suffered such severe injuries he was
expected to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Then, in 2013, a 79-year-old West Virginia man was hit and killed by a Jimmy John's driver
who eyewitnesses described as going, quote, "very fast."
The West Virginia Record says the police report specified the driver was looking not in front
of him but at the clock when he hit J. Robert McClain, leading to a lawsuit that claimed
their high-pressure delivery option led to reckless driving and accidents.
By 2015, BizJournal reported the chain was starting to back away from the idea of super-fast
delivery.
It's not really a secret menu if everyone knows about it, but there are some items that
can only get if you know how to ask for them.
That includes a version of the Gargantuan, which is basically a pile of cured and smoked
meats salami, roast beef, capicola, and smoked ham on a sandwich.
Want extra meat with your meat?
Ask for the Noah's Ark, and you'll get a double helping of everything.
There's another little menu hack you need know about, too.
Since Jimmy John's is all about speed and efficiency, they sacrifice some variety for
that.
That means mustard-lovers are limited to Dijon... sort of.
Most locations still have regular yellow mustard in packets, you just have to ask for it.
Now you know!
If you're looking for a quick and healthy lunch, a carefully chosen sandwich from Jimmy
John's might seem like just the thing.
But some of their subs are shockingly unhealthy even ones that sound like they would be good
for you.
Let's take the #6, The Veggie.
It's got tomato, cucumber, lettuce, sprouts, avocado, mayo, and some cheese, so it sounds
pretty healthy, right?
So healthy, in fact, that you might feel confident in ordering the largest size.
Peek at their nutritional information, though, and you'll find the giant one will set you
back 1380 calories, and comes with 78 grams of fat, and 2470 mg of sodium.
There are plenty of healthy options at Jimmy John's, thanks to their lettuce-wrapped Unwich
options.
But buyer be warned, not everything that seems healthy actually is, and this is just one
more fast food chain where it really pays to read the fine print.
Jimmy John Liautaud's name might be on the company, but in 2016, he sold most of it to
Roark Capital the same firm that bought Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jamba Juice, Seattle's
Best, Sonic, and Auntie Anne's, among others.
The buyer put a value on the company at an impressive $3 billion.
Forbes says Liautaud held onto 35 percent of the company, a role as chairman, and was
put in charge of, quote, "food and culture."
At the end of the day, though, was Roark making all the decisions.
It's not the first time Liautaud sold a chunk of the company.
In 2007, he sold 28 percent to Weston Presidio as a way of diversifying, saying,
"I knew that if I could make $2 million a year, no matter what happened to Jimmy John's,
I could live my entire life."
In late 2019, Liautaud took an even larger step, and sold his remaining interest in the
company to Inspire and parent company Roark Capital.
The remaining stake in the sandwich chain sold for an undisclosed amount, and Liautaud
officially retired from everything but an advisory role.
It's safe to say the handover has given him even more free time, so people are more likely
to see him tooling around in one of his 50-odd cars, or sailing the seas in his mega-yacht,
a massive boat that is perhaps unsurprisingly named Rock-It.
Forbes says that around the time Roark took over Jimmy John's, the insane growth the brand
had seen for years was starting to decline.
One of the reasons, they said, was that it was just no longer as special as it had once
been.
Jimmy John's got popular because they offered delivery, and when the chain opened, it made
them unique.
Thanks to the rise in popularity of services like Uber Eats, other chains are starting
to take away a piece of that pie.
What's a chain to do?
Try to make it clear that they have better delivery.
That's why a recent marketing campaign has stressed the fact that when customers order
from Jimmy John's, it's Jimmy John's who's going to deliver.
And it's possible that still might be a selling point surveys estimate that 35 percent of
people who place orders through third-party delivery services aren't happy with the outcome.
But in order to make sure customers are getting the freshest subs possible in the fastest
time, Jimmy John's isn't going to be delivering any farther than five minutes from their stores.
If you're any farther, you're out of luck.
Wage theft in the restaurant industry is a huge problem, and Jimmy John's has gotten
more than its share of accusations.
In 2014, two former employees took the company to court for what they described as, quote,
"systematic wage theft."
The workers claimed they were regularly given tasks to complete, forced to stay until they
were finished, and were clocked out before they were done, reports the Huffington Post.
According to Chicago Business, the class action lawsuit saw a monumental ruling in 2017, when
the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they were able to sue both corporate and franchisees
for the wage theft.
At the heart of the problem, they say, were managers who were given bonuses based on meeting
payroll costs too low to be reasonable, leading to a regular practice of forcing off-the-clock
labor.
That's not the only time they've been sued, either.
Delivery drivers sued in 2014, claiming they weren't compensated for using their own vehicles.
They were responsible for paying all maintenance and insurance costs with no reimbursement
from the company, the suit said.
And even worse, they paid by the delivery, not by the mileage.
Then, in 2019, another lawsuit was given the go-ahead.
Top Class Actions reported assistant managers were filing a lawsuit because they had were
regularly forced to work overtime, performing the same duties as other employees, while
being classified as "exempt" from overtime wages.
It seems that all is not well behind the counter at Jimmy John's.
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